Gilgamesh was a historical king in the Sumerian city-state of Uruk and a major hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology – predominantly the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written on clay tablets, dating to the late second millennium B.C. The major themes are the question of why are we born only to eventually die one day, and the struggle to overcome death through the quest of immortality.
As the story goes, Gilgamesh the king of Uruk is a tyrant who oppresses the people. Because of this evil the people of Uruk make supplications to the gods. In order to stop Gilgamesh the gods create the wild man Enkidue, who lives in the fields and grazes on grass with the gazelles and other wild animals. One day a hunter sees Enkidue who is sabotaging all the hunter’s traps. To solve this problem the hunter lures Enkidue away from the animals with a prostitute. The prostitute shows Enkidue her “charms” and the couple make love for six days and seven nights. After their time of pleasure the prostitute convinces Enkidue to come with her to a shepherds camp. There he is initiated into the ways of men. He eats bread and drinks the the strong drink, puts on clothes and enters civil society. At the shepherd’s camp Enkidue hears of the wicked ways of Gilgamesh. Primarily the policy of prima nocta, where Gilgamesh takes a bride from her husband on the first night of their wedding. Enkidue, enraged by this practice, enters Uruk and fights with Gilgamesh. Ultimately Gilgamesh acknowledges that he has met his match with Enkidue, whereupon the pair become friends.
Feeling confident with his new friend and equal, Gilgamesh has the idea to venture towards the Forest of Cedar and battle the great creature Humbaba. The elders persuade them not to go, but the two take their weapons and make ready for their journey. The two heroes visit the goddess Ninsun who enlists the help of the sun god, Shamash, and the aid of his wife Aya. Then the heros depart. As they travel, Shamash instructs them on how to kill Humbaba – the creature who guards the Cedars. As the heroes nervously try to quench each others fears they arrive at the Forest of Cedar. As the heroes draw their weapons and enter the forest, Humbaba confronts them. Gilgamesh fights the creature and Shamash sends winds to blind Humbaba. The heroes immediately kill him and begin to cut down the cedars.
On their return to Uruk the goddess Ishtar is impressed with Gilgamesh and proposes to him. Gilgamesh rejects her offer, bringing to mind the fate suffered by her former lovers. Enraged Ishtar mounts up to heaven and persuades her father Anu to giver her the fiery Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh with death. The Bull of Heaven causes havoc in Uruk, but Gilgamesh and Enkidue kill it. To further insult Ishtar, Enkidue tears off the bull’s thigh and throws it in her face. After this the gods assemble to degree Enkidue’s doom, which he sees in a dream. After describing the dream to Gilgamesh he becomes very sick. On his deathbed he laments to Gilgamesh of how it would be better to die in battle and have his memory live forever, rather than die quietly and be forgotten. Enkidue then dies.
After the death of Enkidue, Gilgamesh is faced with his own mortality. He leaves Uruk and wanders the earth to find the immortal Utanapishti – a man who survived the Flood and was given immortality by the gods as a result. Gilgamesh travels through arid deserts and over high mountains until he stops at an inn. He tells the barmaid how his friend has died and that he seeks immortality. She warns him of the futility of his quest, but finally tells him how to find Utanapishti. Making an arduous journey across the Waters of Death, Gilgamesh finds Utanapishti who tells him that deep under the sea, grows a flower that has the properties of eternal life. Gilgamesh dives down to the sea-bed and retrieves it. On his way back to Uruk, Gilgamesh stops at a pool to bathe. Seizing on his inattention a snake steals the flower, and as Gilgamesh reaches out to stop it, the snake sheds it’s skin in his hands and gets away.
Gilgamesh realizes that now all his efforts have been in vain. Yet on his return to Uruk he describes the beauty of his kingdom and all the magnificent architecture of the city and the stone work that will be his lasting monument. So in the end Gilgamesh achieves immortality, not by living forever but through his achievements and the legacy he leaves behind. In summation one could say that even though this is a story dating back some 5,000 years ago in ancient Iraq, its themes are in the words of the late Dr. David Neiman, “eternal and universal.”
References:
George, A. The Epic of Gilgamesh. (London, England: Penguin Classics, 1999).